Where No Woman Has Gone Before
by fleurdeliz
Summary: It's late, London's bored, and Maddie is called to the rescue. Blossoming Londie, which means a bit of femmeslashiness.


**A bit of femmeslashiness follows. **

Maddie sighed. Working nights at the candy counter had to be among the least interesting jobs on the planet. Not that she had much of a right to complain - it was certainly an easy job, and she needed the money from the extra hours - but she couldn't remember the last time she'd had a customer this late. In fact, she didn't think she ever had.

There are only so many ways to entertain yourself in an empty lobby, and Maddie was tired of organizing and reorganizing her display. She silently willed the elevator doors to open. Even if only for a moment, that would provide a bit of action. Any time someone walked through the lobby, it gave her something new to think about; she could easily burn a half hour imagining the person's background and reason for staying at the Tipton.

Maybe Zack and Cody would be up to something tonight. Those two were always good for some fun, reluctant though she was to fully participate in their wilder schemes.

Maddie resigned herself to building a castle of Twix and Snickers; the chances of a better way to pass the time presenting itself were slim.

At least, they were until the phone rang.

This had never happened before. No one called the candy counter. Ever. Why would they? M&Ms are not the sort of thing one generally orders by phone, especially when there's a vending machine right down the hall. Maddie was sure it was a wrong number, but she answered anyway.

"Thank you for calling the Tipton candy counter, this is Maddie," she said as cheerily as she could.

"Maddie? Oh, good. I was afraid it would be that angry Asian woman again."

"Angry Asian woman?"

"Yeah! Before this I accidentally called some lady in Tokyo or somewhere. She wouldn't stop yelling at me!"

"London, you're inside the hotel. You dial four numbers to reach me. It takes about fifteen to call Japan."

London was silent for a moment. "I didn't call Japan. I called Tokyo."

Maddie rolled her eyes. "Well, now that you've called me, what did you want?"

"I'm bored," London whined. "Come up and hang out with me. Please?"

"I can't, London. I have to stay here."

"Why?"

"I'm working, London. You should try it sometime."

"Maddie, whose name is on this hotel?"

"Yours."

"Which means it's mine, which means everything in it is mine, which means you work for me. And me wants you to come to my room and do fun stuff."

Maddie sighed. On one hand, this was her job. She was obligated to stay until her shift was over. But on the other... London had a point. She had the power to hire and fire, to override Moseby. She was basically everyone's boss. Who was Maddie to deny London's request in favor of manning the counter, when a word from London could probably discontinue her employment at the Tipton altogether? Not that she thought London would really do that...

"Maddie?"

Maddie snapped out of her daze. "Okay, I'll come. But if I get fired because of this..."

"You won't!" London squealed with excitement. "Okay, hurry up here! Bye!"

Minutes later, Maddie knocked on London's door. To be honest, she thought, this was a welcome break from her usual routine of school-work-sleep. London opened the door in a nightie, bottle of wine in hand. "Yay! Come on, let's play truth or dare!"

Maddie joined London on her giant pink bed and accepted the wine bottle when London offered it. Hesitantly, she took a sip.

"Oh, go ahead, you can have the rest of that bottle. I have more," London assured her, misinterpreting Maddie's apprehension (she'd never drunk wine before! what would the sisters at school think?) for politeness. London actually did this a lot, having no concept of what life was like for normal people (or as she knew them, "the poor").

Maddie dismissed her worries - who would ever know that she'd had a little wine, anyway? - and set to finishing the bottle. It didn't take as long as she had expected, and four truths and two dares later, London had fetched her a second bottle.

"You know, I'm glad I came up here. We don't hang out enough," Maddie told London as she lay back on the bad.

"I know! Truth or dare?"

"Truth." She might have been a little buzzed, but Maddie's conservative nature always won out when she was asked to make a choice.

London had a mischievous gleam in her eye. "Have you ever kissed a girl?"

Maddie blinked. Had she heard right? "Have I ever _what_?"

"Kissed a girl."

Maddie felt herself blush slightly. "Um, no... Are you sure you don't mean have I ever kissed a _boy_?"

London rolled her eyes. "I think I know the difference between a boy and a girl, Maddie."

Maddie was having trouble comprehending the question. It wasn't part of the standard truth or dare arsenal. "Have _you _ever kissed a girl?"

"Well, no, but..." London bit her lip and averted her eyes.

"Okay, whatever this is is weirding me out," Maddie said, sitting up and discarding her wine bottle.

"Maddie, come on! Haven't you ever been curious?"

"Curious? Curious about what, London? A kiss is a kiss, boy or girl."

"Then why do you think it's so weird?"

"I don't know, it was just really unexpected, I guess."

London looked relieved. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Don't you ever pick dare?"

"Okay, dare." Too late, Maddie realized what her dare would be. It didn't bother her, exactly, just made her feel really strange, like on top of the wine she was about to break another big rule in a big way. London stared at Maddie expectantly, not even speaking the dare aloud. Maddie took a deep breath. This wasn't a big deal, really. They were friends, it was a silly dare, and she had just said that a kiss was a kiss... boy or girl.

Slowly, Maddie leaned toward London. She closed her eyes as their lips met and was surprised by the sensation. Absent was the scratchy stubble she had come to expect; in the place of dry, chapped lips, there was a supple, strawberry flavored pair (oh, the glories of lip gloss!). No one was roughly stroking her hair, accidentally creating tangles and yanking out strands - instead, London had gently placed her small, soft hand on Maddie's cheek.

At this rate, Maddie decided, kissing girls might be the way to go.


End file.
